The Australian gunman who carried out the March 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks has been sentenced to life without parole, the first time a whole life term has been handed down in New Zealand.
Brenton Tarrant pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 counts of manslaughter and one charge of terrorism in March this year.
Handing down sentence in the Christchurch High Court today, Justice Cameron Mander said Tarrant had shown cruelty and callous indifference in carrying out his ideologically driven crimes.
Justice Mander said the gunman appeared entirely self-absorbed, and neither contrite nor ashamed.
The Australian waived his right to make any sentencing submissions, but instructed a standby lawyer to tell the court that he did not oppose a sentence of life without parole.
He showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down.
Survivors of the shooting, as well as the relatives of victims, had addressed the court during the four-day hearing.
On this day in 1829, the first Greeks set foot in Australia. They were seven sailors who had been convicted of piracy in the Mediterranean sea by the British.
Their names were: Georgios Vasilakis, Gikas Voulgaris, Georgios Laritsos, Antonis Manolis, Damianos Ninis, Nikolaos Papandreas and Konstantinos Strompolis.
Bill Florence (Vassilios Florakis) traveled from Ithaca to Melbourne in 1922. Photo: In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians’, National Project Archives, Macquarie University, Sydney.
The name of the ship that brought them to Australia was also duly recorded. It was the British ship the Norfolk, and it brought a total of 192 other criminals, mainly from the United Kingdom, to the harsh continent to serve their sentences.
The voyage, which must have been a type of punishment in itself, lasted between 91 and 93 days and the captain was assumed to be Alexander Greig.
The Potiris family from Kythera, outside the “Canberra Dining Rooms,” a family business owned by them, in 1914. Photo: N. George for ‘In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians’.
Later on, despite the fact that the Greek authorities granted them an official amnesty, two of the men, Antonis Manolis and Gikas Voulgaris, decided to stay there, thereby beginning the long history of the Greek presence in Australia.
Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the Western & Southern Open semi-finals on Wednesday evening when his opponent, Reilly Opelka, retired leading 6-5 in the first set due to a right knee injury.
Tsitsipas had never previously won a match at the Western & Southern Open, but he has now moved past a trio of tall opponents — 6’8” Kevin Anderson, 6’10” John Isner and 6’11” Opelka — at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Stefanos Tsitsipas advances to the Western & Southern Open semi-finals for the first time. Photo: Peter Staples/ATP Tour
“The question remains: Am I going to make it to the record books for playing the tallest players on the ATP consecutively, one after the other?” Tsitsipas asked Tuesday evening, cracking a laugh.
“I have to check it out. I don’t think it has ever happened before.”
Opelka took a medical timeout at the 4-3 changeover to have his right knee taped. The American tried to battle on, saving two break points at 5-5 and holding that service game. But Opelka, a first-time Masters 1000 quarter-finalist, could not continue.
Tsitsipas will face former World No. 3 Milos Raonic or Serbian Filip Krajinovic for a spot in the final.
Raonic beat the reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion in straight sets at this year’s Australian Open, but Tsitsipas owns a 2-0 ATP Head2Head series lead against Krajinovic.
The fourth seed is pursuing his first Masters 1000 title, having lost in the championship match at 2018 Canada and last year’s Mutua Madrid Open.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday in Parliament that the government will soon submit a bill extending Greece’s territorial waters in the Ionian Sea from six to 12 nautical miles.
Mitsotakis said Greece would thereby exercise an “inalienable sovereign right” in line with Article 3 of the Convention on the Law of the Sea.
He said that Greece could in the future extend its territorial waters in other maritime areas, in accordance with the Convention on the Law of the Sea and the application of the median line where the distance between the two shores is smaller than 24 miles.
Η Ελλάδα θα επεκτείνει την αιγιαλίτιδα ζώνη της προς δυσμάς από τα 6 στα 12 ναυτικά μίλια. Προβαίνουμε στην άσκηση ενός αδιαμφισβήτητου δικαιώματός μας. Ένα δικαίωμα, το οποίο η χώρα μας επιφυλάσσεται να ασκήσει μελλοντικά και σε άλλες θαλάσσιες περιοχές. #Βουλήpic.twitter.com/cpOXkL157X
Turkey has warned that a similar move by Greece to the east would be a “casus belli” – a cause for war.
Mitsotakis was speaking during a debate on Greece’s maritime boundaries agreement with Egypt and a separate one with Italy. The two deals will be put to vote on Thursday.
Speaking of the accords, he said “they have major historical and political significance.”
Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, spoke over the telephone with US President Donald Trump about developments in the Eastern Mediterranean on Wednesday night, his office has said.
Mitsotakis, the Prime Minister’s office said, “thanked Mr Trump for his interest and for the communication, which took place while the Republican National Convention is still under way.”
The Greek PM “raised the issue of Turkey’s destabilizing actions, which are endangering peace and stability in the broader region and testing the cohesion of NATO,” it said.
Greek PM, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, spoke with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday night. Photo: Greek Government Office.
Mitsotakis also stressed that “Greece is ready to contribute meaningfully to a de-escalation on the condition that Turkey ceases all provocative actions at once.”
Tensions remain high between Ankara and Athens following Tuesday’s visits to both capitals by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who aimed to bring leaders from both sides back to the negotiation table over ongoing maritime disputes.
Simultaneous naval drills were conducted by Turkey, Greece and Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean, Wednesday, amid concerns of a possible conflict in the region.
The common phrase is that pictures can tell a thousand words. Yet, the story of Vasilis Zisopoulos proves this is not true; they can tell one million.
Vasilis, known by friends as ‘Bill’, became the proud owner of a new Greek restaurant in Townsville in the 1970s, naming the restaurant ‘Zorba’. Upon its opening, he noticed a large empty space on the wall. A lover of art, Vasilis employed the help of a Mytilenian artist from Townsville to help paint a picture for the empty space.
“The artist said to my dad ‘I’ll paint you by the beach, we’ll have some ouzo we’ll add some boats and water and we’ll make it as Greek as possible,’” Maria Marmanidis, Bill’s daughter, says to The Greek Herald.
Neither of them knew that the painting would become a symbol of Bill’s rise from poverty to a better life.
A Tale of Two Siblings
Forty years prior to Bill opening up his store in Townsville, he became witness to his father’s death by German soldiers in Trikala.
“My dad grew up as an orphan. He moved to live with his uncle who couldn’t afford to raise him and so he put him in an orphanage in Volos,” Maria explains.
Little did Maria’s father know, he was lucky to be sent to an orphanage and not left to die in the snow. A fate that his sister almost had to endure.
Photo: Supplied
“My dad had a sister, who he didn’t know he had because when my yiayia gave up my father and his sister, she gave my father to her brother and left my auntie (Bill’s sister) in the snow to die.”
Given a second chance at life, Maria’s auntie was found by some neighbouring Greek locals after she was left in the snow. She was picked up and sent to her new home. An orphanage in Volos.
“Coincidentally, it was the same orphanage my father was at. The two grew up together never knowing they were siblings,” Maria says.
Bill in his early years as an electrician in Greece. Photo: Supplied
Maria explains that her father never found out until he grew up and went to find his mother, who had given up her children to get remarried in Mytilene. Bill ended up tracking down his sister, finding out that he spent his whole childhood with her.
“Imagine going to the same school or same orphanage as a girl and never knowing she’s your sister,” Maria said bewildered.
The Electrician and the Australian
Living in Mytilene permanently and working as an electrician, a Greek Australian woman caught Bill’s eye while he was on the job.
“My mum was in her 30’s, she was happy being single, then she met my dad; An electrician in Mytilene who had come to the house to fix the lights.
“They fell in love.”
Maria and her late father, Bill. Photo: Supplied.
When Maria’s mother came back to Australia, the two wrote “beautiful romantic love letters” to each other during their time apart.
Wanting to come to Australia for a better life, Bill was encouraged by Maria’s mother to move to Sydney. The pair got married at Saint Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Newtown.
Moving to Canberra in the 1970s, the couple opened up the first charcoal chicken shop in the city. After giving birth to Maria and her brother, Christos, in Canberra, Maria’s parents decided it was time to move “somewhere warmer”.
“My brother was so sick all the time with croup and it was so cold,” Maria says, adding that her brother took repeated trips to hospital.
Zorba’s Restaurant in Townsville. Photo; Supplied
“My dad took a drive all the way up the coast with my mum and got as far as Townsville. They sold the shop in Canberra, packed us all up and relocated us there.
“They built a restaurant in Townsville which was a charcoal chicken restaurant called Zorba’s restaurant and that’s where it all started.”
A framed tribute of her father
Maria’s parents eventually divorced in 1995. Bill then moved back to Mytilene, leaving his daughter and son to run the Zorba restaurant.
Four years ago, tragedy struck Maria and her family.
“I lost my brother to pancreatic cancer,” Maria says with sorrow.
“I brought my dad from Greece, he said goodbye to his son who he hadn’t seen for 25 years.
“We said goodbye to my brother together as a family and he was taken back to Greece. My father built a beautiful church in Plomari in Mytilene, and that’s where my brothers remains are.”
Only two months ago in June 2020, four years after she had lost her brother Christos, Maria’s father passed away in Mytilene from an unexpected stroke.
“With Covid, I wasn’t able to go back, which was heartbreaking. But incidentally by mother went back after 51 years in November and was with my dad until his final hours and ended up burying my father.”
Following her father and her brother’s death, Maria was left with the restaurant building and painting inside.
“I didn’t want to throw that painting away because it did mean something to me but it was too big to put anywhere in my home,” Maria says.
“I contacted the president of the Mytilenian Brotherhood of Sydney and told him what had happened, and incidentally he had also lost his father recently.”
Honoured to take the painting, the president said he also wished to design a memorial plaque for Maria’s father.
“When my kids and my family visit the club, we can see the painting and know that it’s still around and know that my dad is still around as well,” Maria says hopefully.
During this challenging time, we are all experiencing various degrees of anger, sadness and boredom. Usually a way of coping with and navigating our way through these feelings involves trying to find creative outlets.
Dealing with the pandemic through creativity allows us to reflect on the situation and our emotions that have surfaced from it. These can include methods such as painting, drawing, writing or even cooking. Each individual has their own way of connecting with their feelings that works for them.
For many students in Victoria, remote learning and lockdown 2.0 involves a lot of time spent in front of their computer. Too much technology can result in overstimulation and affect our mental health. This is why it is important for students to find time away from their screens to practice creativity.
Allowing for a creative outlet during remote learning will help them better understand their thoughts and emotions and gives them a chance to reflect. Whether this be during their creative subjects during school hours such as Art or Literature, or on their own accord during their downtime.
At Oakleigh Grammar, the Year 10 Language and Literature students have been exploring reflection through Poetry.
Poetry provides us a way of putting our thoughts onto a page, based on our observations, thoughts or feelings. Oakleigh Grammar students used poetry to express how they feel as a collective. Together, students worked on writing a class poem sharing a real reflection of their feelings individually, as a whole class and as a society.
Isolation – Must We!
It spreads like paper flying in the wind,
The laughter stops, the sickness kicks in.
The abstinence of my elation,
The laughter stops, the sickness kicks in.
All of us confined, all of us alone,
Isolation is the bane of this new world for us to be alone.
Society cut down in a wave of deprecation,
Just stay away call it a day.
The laughter has stopped and the sickness kicked in,
Life, death the new norm.
This virus swells like a storm.
No words to describe the pain we are all in,
Whereabouts does this pain begin?
Wear a mask, get on with the task,
Please just do as we ask.
Stop the flow, stop the spread,
I do not wish to lie in bed, or end up dead.
Just stay away, call it a day,
Let us pray to keep the virus at bay.
Because, when the laughter stops the sickness kicks in.
World No. 21 Maria Sakkari has beaten former World Champion Serena Williams after a thrilling match in the USA Cincinnati Masters.
Williams started off the match in usually fiery form, building a 5-2 lead in the opening set without facing a break point on her serve. After finally gaining her rhythm on the court, the Greek tied the match at 5-all. Williams managed to take the final two games and grasp the first set.
The second set saw both competitors battle intensely, with Serena Williams on the upward path from her victory last set. Sakkari was left behind at 5-3, yet Williams wasn’t able to seal the deal and instead allowed Sakkari to bring the momentum to her favour.
Sakkari brought the pair to 5-all, with the two women entering a deuce before Sakkari sent the match into a tiebreak. After losing four of the first five points, the Greek queen of comebacks managed to bring the tie-breaker to 4-all. Serena took the next point but suffered a four-point swing which saw Sakkari run past for the 7-5 tiebreak victory.
As the final set began, it was clear that Sakkari looked ready to proceed to the next stage of the competition. The Greek World No. 21 took every game confidently until the second-to-last game, which saw the pair engage in a 7 deuce battle, with Williams taking her first game of the set.
Sakkari still managed to take home the final point however, winning the final set 6-1. Full Score: 5-7, 7(7)-6(5), 6-1.
This convincing victory against one of the world’s best has made the Greek into one of the most dangerous competitors of the game.
Sylvania Waters local James Mina pleaded guilty to prohibited drug supply and drug possession after a police raid uncovered large amounts of cocaine in his room at his family’s mansion on February 13.
Coming from a Greek and Egyptian background, the Sydney boy was arrested in his Toyota HiLux in the Southgate Sylvania carpark on February 14 and spent six days behind bars.
“Investigators located six plastic bags of white powder suspected to be cocaine, five plastic bags of brown granules suspected to be MDMA, empty plastic bags, scales, spoons, scissors, and Glucodin commonly used as a cutting agent for cocaine,” police facts stated.
“They also located in the accused’s bedroom numerous other plastic bags containing unknown substances, an extendible baton, $2300 in a Louis Vuitton box, 105 Oxandrolone tablets and a box containing a variety of steroids.”
James Mina, 23. Photo: Facebook
The raid ultimately uncovered 20.48g of cocaine, 4.32g of MDMA, 10.53g of anabolic steroid Oxandrolone, 1.68g of anabolic steroid Mesterolone, 0.78g of dexamphetamine and 21.7g of testosterone.
Mina spent six days behind bars before he was granted bail by Magistrate Les Mabbutt at Sutherland Local Court. His parents, sister and a family friend collectively put a $1.2 million investment property and $15,000 cash on the line in exchange for his release on bail.
Mina was set to fight the charges at a hearing but instead pleaded guilty to prohibited drug supply and prohibited drug possession.
The court will also consider seven other counts of prohibited drug possession as part of the sentencing proceedings at Sutherland Local Court on September 17.
Mina is employed full time as a trainer at Fitness First but he also works as a party promoter with his own company – MisdeMina.
A Melbourne woman will miss her father’s funeralin Adelaide on Wednesday after repeatedly being rejected to travel.
Mary Kalantzis’ father Michael Katsabas died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital last week after a long illness. Trying desperately to obtain compassionate leave from SA health authorities to travel there, she was repeatedly rejected.
Speaking to The Advertiser, Mary says her request has now been approved a week after her father passed, yet the Greek Australian woman felt it was too late to say goodbye to her father.
“It’s been a week now since my father passed away. He’s sitting in a morgue, and yesterday I got a letter from SA Health stating if I want to come, I have to go to a hotel and stay for 14 days and quarantine,” she said.
“Would you allow your father to stay in a morgue for three weeks?
“I just couldn’t do it to my mother.”
Ms Kalantzis, who is originally from South Australia and runs a business there, said if she was approved for travel when her father took a turn for the worst, she could have flown there and undertaken the mandatory 14-day quarantine.
“I begged them and begged them,” she said.
“I asked them for a compassionate letter because they said to me he wasn’t looking good.
“The doctors wouldn’t get back to me, I kept repeatedly calling.
“Eventually, that afternoon he sadly passed away.
“If they said yes to me on that Tuesday, I would’ve quarantined for two weeks from Tuesday and my dad would only be in the morgue for two weeks.”
She has written to the SA Health Minister, Premier and Prime Minister to help her plight. She is pinning hopes on a flight on Wednesday afternoon that will enable her to attend the service alongside her mother and two sisters.
Exemptions for funeral travel are considered on a case-by-case basis in “very exceptional circumstances”. If approved, 14 days quarantine is required on arrival before attending the funeral.
